Am I the only metal guy who doesn't use an overdrive pedal?

[Spaced Out Ace]

i dont. i beleive that if an amp needs an OD, its not good enough for what your doing with it.

i also dial my gain down a bit anyway as i feel its more organic and clear

I think I'm gonna counter rep you so I don't forget to.

 

[HUGH JAYNUS]

I think I'm gonna counter rep you so I don't forget to.

lol thanks. but in a non dick sounding way what i mean is there are tons of amps with more gain than anyone could ever need. so why push a weak amp when you can acquire one with gain for days.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

lol thanks. but in a non dick sounding way what i mean is there are tons of amps with more gain than anyone could ever need. so why push a weak amp when you can acquire one with gain for days.

Because it's to "tighten it up and add some edge". And similar applies.

 

[Shimme]

lol thanks. but in a non dick sounding way what i mean is there are tons of amps with more gain than anyone could ever need. so why push a weak amp when you can acquire one with gain for days.

So you can get a tone that you want?

I get the sentiment, but remember that most people with high gain amps + boost are barely touching the gain on that boost, they're using it mainly as an EQ pedal.

 

[slowro]

I have only started using an OD pedal in the last couple years. I still ride the volume pot for cleans and the OD to go over the edge. I have an od808 set for some grit and a fulltone OCD set for more gnarly angry tones. I have used single channel amps as long as I have played too. I don't know if this makes me a relic or a TROOO Purist

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

For the longest time, I felt the need to have a boost ready at all times and have managed to collect a few in the process. For rock, it was just an auxilary for solos. For metal, it's always on. Regardless of the amp too. Hell, I boosted a Triple XXX with the gain set high!

Recently I've been avoiding boosts altogether as I haven't been playing metal all too much anymore. Of course after recently scoring a Free The Tone Gigs Boson changed all that. Now I'm back to collecting more boosts and using them as auxilary. I'll be getting a Free The Tone Red Jasper (klone) since my gain is going lower and lower, just for more options.

Overdrive collectors are the corksniffers of corksniffers of gear, and I really can't help slowly becoming one...

Im planning to NOT run a boost with my 6505. Just waiting to get my cab and we'll see how it goes.

Im going for the old school swede melodeath tone.

You'll be fine. They have more gain on tap that can render boosts redundant at times.

 

[vick1000]

Technically I don't use one, I have a VYpyr Tube 120H, and use the "sqeeze" stomp box setting, which is a compressor, with level max and filter all the way off.

Some amps take OD pedals well, some take clean boosts better. HIgher gain amps respond well to clean boosts, and an EQ will let you shape better than your typical OD pedal.

But sometimes, too many options can muddy the waters, so to speak. Some people prefer the simplicity of guitar>OD>amp with a gate in there somewhere.

Some tubes/preamps don't have enough dynamics, or response to attack, and that's where a boost really helps, especially for leads.

 

[filipe]

I got the maxon od808 for my valveking today and I am noy very impressed with it, doesnt make a big difference it only adds a bunch of noise. So I guess I am again one of the plays that doesnt use overdrives and such...

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

How do you set the EQ after the amp?

Well my setup is pedals so its Guitar > eq > dist. > eq > amp.
But for an amp you need a serial loop.

So that goes Guitar > eq > Amp input, and then the second eq goes in the loop.

 

[crg123]

I go pre-eq > keeley compressor >maxon od808 > ns-2 gate to my amp then in my effects loop I add in another eq pedal for most of my tone shaping>isp decimator for noise reduction > rpcktron expression for any effects (reverb/Delay/etc for leads and cleans).

So basically I have a lot of pedals to make my blackstar ht-5 (the old version with the 10" celestion and I swapped the preamp tube for a tung sol 12AX7) to sound like a poor man's engl haha

 

[TedEH]

so why push a weak amp when you can acquire one with gain for days.

Because a boost isn't just for MOAR GAINZ- I always roll the amp gain back when using a boost. I assume it's the amp's gain that's responsible for the lack of tightness, so you roll the gain back to where you get the tightness you want, with a nice satisfying chug on palm mutes, then use the boost to push you back into "high gain" territory.

 

[cwhitey2]

I was playing with my dual rec last night (every now and again I just play with ALL the settings - from clean to brutalz) and I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to get a tight metal tone out of it without a boost. I'm running the settings Bold, Silicon diode and have el34s in her. The bass is loose as a whore...and I don't think boosting other frequencies with aan EQ pedal changes that...unless you are going to remove ALL of the bass

Some amps (IMO) require a boost to be 'metal'...its not that the amps aren't metal enough...its just that saggy whore bass frequency and if you drop tune it sounds like turd.

My dual rec unboosted for a metal tone in drop D sounds almost perfect to my ears (perfect with the boost)...but the same settings with my 7 string = 0 note definition and mudd butt.

I think tone is relative to the context to which/where its being applied.

 

[phonix]

I used to run a boost. I ran a bodenhamer TS7 with my Fryette Deliverance as it was pretty organic sounding (later realised this had a lot to do with preamp tube choice). Later when I switched to a GP3 + 2/90/2 I realised it was adding way too much colour and compression. It tightened thinngs up waaay too much. I was also going for a "sounds like the CD with both guitarists playing" tone which I've now realised is stupid and as a result play with less gain, no boost pedal now with a much tighter, organic tone. The Fryette UL has an EQ which I use to shape the lead tone and I can get it just how I like it (pretty much Unearth's tone from The March). They are known for being tight amps though so it's definitely that I've found the right amp for me rather than having to alter an amps natural tone to get me there.

 

[TeeWX]

I was playing with my dual rec last night (every now and again I just play with ALL the settings - from clean to brutalz) and I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to get a tight metal tone out of it without a boost. I'm running the settings Bold, Silicon diode and have el34s in her. The bass is loose as a whore...and I don't think boosting other frequencies with aan EQ pedal changes that...unless you are going to remove ALL of the bass

Some amps (IMO) require a boost to be 'metal'...its not that the amps aren't metal enough...its just that saggy whore bass frequency and if you drop tune it sounds like turd.

My dual rec unboosted for a metal tone in drop D sounds almost perfect to my ears (perfect with the boost)...but the same settings with my 7 string = 0 note definition and mudd butt.

I think tone is relative to the context to which/where its being applied.

Agree with this.

I see posts about overdrives a lot and it's pretty obvious that if you're not wanting a boost you're playing a completely different genre than me, or you're playing in E Standard (which basically puts you in a different genre), or you are fairly downtuned just don't want anyone to ever hear what you're playing. I certainly think there are some situations where you'd want the loose & fuzzy unboosted gain and still be in metal territory, something like In Flames or Amon Amarth comes to mind tone wise. Most of the time I'm wanting a tight, surgical modern high gain for rhythm, like an August Burns Red tone, and it's just not happening without an overdrive in front. Whether it's a Rectifier or a 5150 I use about the same overall "gain" on the amp, to the point where it's just breaking up. With the boost off it sounds like a hard overdrive, and with the boost on it gets just into the point of having the distortion that I'd want, but without the overwhelming low end that makes the notes I'm playing indistinguishable. I think end up keeping a lot more of the amps dynamics this way, which can be important.

 

[cwhitey2]

Agree with this.

I see posts about overdrives a lot and it's pretty obvious that if you're not wanting a boost you're playing a completely different genre than me, or you're playing in E Standard (which basically puts you in a different genre), or you are fairly downtuned just don't want anyone to ever hear what you're playing. I certainly think there are some situations where you'd want the loose & fuzzy unboosted gain and still be in metal territory, something like In Flames or Amon Amarth comes to mind tone wise. Most of the time I'm wanting a tight, surgical modern high gain for rhythm, like an August Burns Red tone, and it's just not happening without an overdrive in front. Whether it's a Rectifier or a 5150 I use about the same overall "gain" on the amp, to the point where it's just breaking up. With the boost off it sounds like a hard overdrive, and with the boost on it gets just into the point of having the distortion that I'd want, but without the overwhelming low end that makes the notes I'm playing indistinguishable. I think end up keeping a lot more of the amps dynamics this way, which can be important.

Nailed it.


I usually run my gain on my orange channel anywhere from 9 o'clock to 1...obviously it depends on the style im playing.

My red channel is usually 11 o'clock to 2/3ish


Gain and bass have A LOT to do with how tight your tone can become.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I was playing with my dual rec last night (every now and again I just play with ALL the settings - from clean to brutalz) and I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to get a tight metal tone out of it without a boost. I'm running the settings Bold, Silicon diode and have el34s in her. The bass is loose as a whore...and I don't think boosting other frequencies with aan EQ pedal changes that...unless you are going to remove ALL of the bass

Some amps (IMO) require a boost to be 'metal'...its not that the amps aren't metal enough...its just that saggy whore bass frequency and if you drop tune it sounds like turd.

My dual rec unboosted for a metal tone in drop D sounds almost perfect to my ears (perfect with the boost)...but the same settings with my 7 string = 0 note definition and mudd butt.

I think tone is relative to the context to which/where its being applied.

Have you tried running the bass low on the amp and putting an EQ in the loop to get your lows back? Should react similar to a Mark series amp.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

Have you tried running the bass low on the amp and putting an EQ in the loop to get your lows back? Should react similar to a Mark series amp.

I did this with my Rectifier for a little while. I heard in a Devin Townsend interview that he would cut everything bellow 100hz a bit, but then add in a touch of ~60hz to add back some "thump" without taking up any more of the bass player's frequency range or getting loose. Worked like a charm for me I used a 31-band EQ in the FX loop for this and also cut some extreme highs above 10K or so.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I did this with my Rectifier for a little while. I heard in a Devin Townsend interview that he would cut everything bellow 100hz a bit, but then add in a touch of ~60hz to add back some "thump" without taking up any more of the bass player's frequency range or getting loose. Worked like a charm for me I used a 31-band EQ in the FX loop for this and also cut some extreme highs above 10K or so.

I'd start at about 5 or 6k with a slight cut [like -1 or -2dB] and roll off more the higher up you go, but it'd depend on whether that affects the presence of the amp too much.

As for the low end, I'd cut the bass on the amp by keeping it low, and add it back with the EQ in the loop. What you did would work too though.

 

[cwhitey2]

Have you tried running the bass low on the amp and putting an EQ in the loop to get your lows back? Should react similar to a Mark series amp.

I have actually, my mxr adds too much noise for a band seeing IMO. Jamming in my room with that setup is awesome.

My cab doesn't help much...I have a Basson. I have been thinking about buying a 1960a. Because every time I play through one with any amp I'm blown away.... And mind you I tested my rec through one when I bought it and that's the reason I bought it.

Sorry for the off topic cab talk

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

I have actually, my mxr adds too much noise for a band seeing IMO. Jamming in my room with that setup is awesome.

My cab doesn't help much...I have a Basson. I have been thinking about buying a 1960a. Because every time I play through one with any amp I'm blown away.... And mind you I tested my rec through one when I bought it and that's the reason I bought it.

Sorry for the off topic cab talk

I have a 2 ch 15 band ART rack EQ and last time I used it, I don't remember it being noisy. If you find one cheap, might be worth looking into.